The present invention relates to a machine for roadway repair and crack-filling operations, and in particular to a machine having applicators for manually directing asphalt, ductile emulsion or other fluid crack-filling material into cracks, crevices, holes or the like defects in roadways, streets or highways and having an adjacent supply station for sand, gravel or other aggregate material which can be applied to fluid-filled cracks.
Known roadway or highway crack-filling operations typically involve the use of a kettle or tank, sometimes heated, with or without an agitator to stir the crack-filling material. The tank or kettle is mounted on a truck bed or trailer which is moved along a roadway to be repaired. Applicator brushes, swabs or the like are dipped into the tank and then onto the roadway defects, as the tank is moved along. Alternatively, some operations use hoses leading from such truck bed or trailer-mounted tank to an applicator wand which is operated manually to place crack-filler material into the irregular defects or cracks. The truck bed or trailer is moved along with the wand operators following and filling the cracks. The crack-filling material, whether heated asphalt or a ductile emulsion, rapidly begins to harden after it is applied. The sand or aggregate to be most effective must be applied while the filler material is still fluid. The wand operator is, therefore, followed closely by a dump truck filled with sand. A sand shoveler typically walks along the roadway and shovels sand from the dump truck bed onto the filled cracks. With a normally configured rear bed dump truck, the dump truck is backed slowly behind both the wand operator and the sand shoveler by a truck driver. Sand or aggregate is moved to the rear of the bed by tilting the bed up at the front. The operation requires at a minimum four workers, one to drive the truck or trailer carrying the fluid crackfiller material, one to operate the applicator wand, one to shovel sand or aggregate, and one to back the sand truck. This operation also results in the sand truck operator having limited or completely blocked view of the other workers not only because the dump truck is backing up but also because the bed of the dump truck is typically raised or inclined to cause the sand to move to the end of the dump truck bed where it can be reached for shoveling.
In other road repair devices, cracks are in effect filled by spreading the fluid filler material across the entire road surface and subsequently spreading sand or gravel chips over the entire layer of fluid material, asphalt or ductile emulsion. Such an operation typically requires an asphalt sprayer vehicle to move along a roadway at a substantially constant slow speed, followed by a sand, gravel, rock-chip, or aggregate spreader vehicle traveling at about the same speed. In some applications, the fluid sprayer vehicle travels ahead of the aggregate spreader driven in reverse. In other operations, the sand or rock chips are conveyed or moved to the front of a special truck fitted with an aggregate spreader device such as a laterally disposed auger spreader or twin spinning spreaders, both of which can provide substantially even layers of sand or gravel ahead of the spreading truck.
Whether a localized crack-filling or an entire roadway covering is being accomplished, there is an attempt to avoid driving the truck tires on the fluid applied area before the sand or aggregate is applied. It is important to avoid both dangerous slipping conditions as well as accelerated tire deterioration caused by rolling the rubber tires of the vehicles directly through the fluid asphalt or the ductile emulsion again, these methods of road repair require at least two trucks. In the case of minor and spaced-apart cracks, which are typical in many roads at early stages of deterioration, the cost of additional manpower of applicator wand operators and sand shovelers is offset by the savings in materials over the spreading method.
The present invention overcomes many of the disadvantages associated with the prior devices and methods for crackfilling and road repairing by providing a single vehicle for carrying and supplying fluid crack-filler, material and sand to a working area. The vehicle both carries and supplies asphalt filler material and sand or gravel to a single end of the combination vehicle. The vehicle is configured to permit the driver of the vehicle to have a clear view of both the applicator wand operator and the sand shoveler when used in the individual crack-filling mode. Further, the vehicle incorporates a fluid sprayer and a sand or rock-chip spreader, both of which can be used to trail the vehicle during operation so that the vehicle wheels do not roll through the liquid asphalt material. Further, when operated as a surface spreader, the vehicle need not even roll on the freshly laid layer of aggregate or rock chips This reduces contact between the tires and the asphalt and also reduces trackmarks in the solidifying materials.